NCC Daily

I want to encourage you to have a special place, a private place, where you meet with God. It’s not just for the miracles, although, I am a witness that it can happen but make this place your “tent of meeting” just as Moses did.

When I think about prayer, my prayer life, and what it looks like for me, I’ve learned more and more it is an indication of where my relationship is with Him. My Abba. It’s a barometer on how I am loving Him well as well as how I am allowing Him to love me.

In prayer, the Holy Spirit anoints our imagination and opens us up to the Father through very personal images and pictures in our minds.

Today I have been asked to share on my journey with prayer.

If you’re nervous about prayer, let’s try to take as much pressure off as possible. No need to sound deep and spiritual. No need to go on and on, blah, blah, blah. Just spend some time with Jesus. Talk to him. Listen to him. That is prayer.

As we’ve studied scripture, we have learned about the deep abiding love God has for His son, Jesus. Then in turn Jesus’ deep abiding love for his disciples. His love for us. He calls us friends. He chose us. Even after seeing all of who we are - the mistakes, the rebellion, the beauty. He sees the Imago Dei in His sons and daughters! In His friends!

Today, I wanted to share some of the things Spirit shared with me in my journal during my time in the Lectio Divina practice.

Today, we are going to soak into scripture through the practice of Lectio Divina—one of my favorites! Lectio Divina, which is latin for Divine Reading, is a contemplative practice that guides us in reading over a passage of four times, each with a different intent: Lectio (which is a plain Reading), Meditatio (a meditative Reading), Oratio (a prayerful Reading), and Comtemplatio (a restful Reading).

Can we just be honest and say that none of us really know what we are doing and that we kind of figure out life as we go? Even those of us that plan in our Type A and strategize we’re making decisions based on our current understanding. All of us are doing the best we can each day. And that right there is good, my friend. Have some grace for yourself and release the shame that you might carry.

It's such an honor to be able to provide a space for other people to learn how to do that as well. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about mental health stigma because when you get a diagnosis, it's so easy to have that label feel like such a weight.